Quantification of Nineteen Bioactive Components in the Ancient Classical Chinese Medicine Formula of Wen-Dan Decoction and Its Commercial Preparations by UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS

A UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS method was developed to quantify the significant constituents in Wen-Dan Decoction (WDD), a traditional Chinese medicine. Analysis of 19 compounds was conducted on an ACQUITY UPLC(®) BEH C18 Column (2.1 × 50 mm, 1.7 μm) using elution with a gradient elution of acetonitrile and 0.05% (v/v) formic acid in water. A triple quadrupole mass spectrometer was operated in negative ionization mode and positive ionization mode by multiple reaction monitoring (MRM), respectively. All calibration curves showed acceptable linearity (r ≥ 0.9950). The RSDs of intra- and inter-day precisions of low, mid and high concentrations were ≤ 8.88%. The repeatabilities (RSDs ≤ 7.17%) and stabilities (RSD ≤ 4.79%) of the samples were qualified. The recoveries were found in the range of 93.07 ± 3.86 to 103.98 ± 2.98% with the RSD varying between 1.30 and 7.86%. The final rapid, sensitive, precise, accurate and reliable UHPLC-QQQ-MS/MS method was used for the simultaneous quantification of 19 constituents in WDD and its commercial preparations. The strategy of combining the contents of the 19 chemicals in a daily dose of the WDD preparations with the hierarchical cluster analysis and the 3D principal component analysis was employed to effectively distinguish the WDD preparations provided by the different suppliers, which represents a contribution to the evaluation and control of the quality of WDD (or other decoctions consisting of the same herbs) and the preparations of WDD in other dosage forms such as tablets and granules.